Daylight Robbery

A useful publication

On Monday I had a long conversation on the phone with a patient woman in the Govia call centre.

For the non-Queenslanders, Govia is the corporation that manages the tollway that takes Toowoomba people to Brisbane airport from the Warrego highway.

I could avoid the tolls, but the Warrego is iffy with all the rebuilding at the moment, and you need to be on time when meeting aircraft. I missed a plane last year because of the roadworks, but that’s another story.

Three days prior to making the trip, I phoned Govia (because their website didn’t seem to be working), to update my account details as I had renewed both car and credit card.

I repeat this call was made THREE days before the journey. The guy who answered was surly and patronizing.

I also ordered a couple of the tag thingies, one for each car.

Anyhow, after travelling twice to the airport from Toowoomba (alternatively collecting and depositing number two son after his spell home for Christmas) I felt secure in the thought that all matters Govia were organised and in hand.

Not so.

A letter arrived at the end of last week.

It was a letter of demand from Govia demanding $18.16 for what they called an “unregistered toll”.

It also contained the following in large red shouty text –

Pay now to avoid an Infringement Notice in excess of $140.

Given that the letter arrived two days before the deadline added to the bizarre nature of the process.

I immediately paid the amount through BPay, but phoned anyway, because I no longer trusted Govia to manage my account.

The patient woman dealing with my call couldn’t understand why my phone call three days before the journey hadn’t been recorded on the system, although all details were up to date.

It has occurred to me that the surly individual sabotaged the process. I have no proof of this, but it is very strange.

The transaction went through, but I’ve still been hit with the $7.71 administration fee. I’ve registered a complaint about this with Govia, and asked for a refund.

No response so far.

I’ll keep you posted.

Obviously I’m not the only one unhappy with Govia.